Friday, August 3, 2007

Aug. 3, 2007: eBay's first ad exchange deal

Dave Goetzl at Mediapost writes today about Oxygen network becoming the first cable net to use eBay's advertising exhange, which it used to buy scatter for Intel. This, even though the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau isn't supporting the system. There are several things that make this momentous in its way, even if the amount of money changing hands is only in the six figures. First, is, of course, that this is a first. Um, duh. Second, it is doing for Oxygen what Google's ad exchange programs have done for other media properties—bringing it an advertiser it wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Third, it seems to underscore my theory that technology companies (along with companies that are based out west, and thus more digitally attuned) are much more open-minded about the whole ad exchange/auction concept than others. Not only is Intel the first advertiser to embrace this system, but two of the other three advertisers that Oxygen is working with for its next buy are Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. (The other is Home Depot.) I came up with my theory about ad exchange open-mindedness back when I did a story about Google's work towards magazine print ad auctions—while the Conde Nasts and Hearsts of the world didn't return my calls, the publisher of San Francisco-based shelter book Dwell, who had participated in a Google print auction test, was effusive about the model's possibilities, and like Oxygen, she got advertisers into her book that she never would have had the man (woman?) power to attract on her own. BTW, good for Universal McCann in making this transaction happen.

1 comment:

Myself being in one of those western digitally inclined companies (www.seesawnetworks.com), this can certainly be gleamed as good news. Enabling media planners, agencies and advertisers with IT tools that make their job more transparent and efficient is one goal - using IT to change the media buying paradigm and create new marketplaces is something else. The first should be embraced; the second should be tested; neither should be ignored. Some agencies are beginning to evince more strategic thinking when it comes to the media they buy and to the methods they utilize to do so; Universal McCann’s role in the Intel buy is to be applauded. As a proponent of a ‘new media’ (digital out-of-home - a.k.a. digital signage), it is empowering to see success, and to have the agencies participate in the process.